And here are the said brothers in ascending order from left to right
And here is the box in question ! a petty standard cigarette box !,
apart from on the top it has some intricately carved decoration,
in the form of swags and rosettes finishing with an RND Cartouche ,
but this box has hidden qualities !!!
AND HERE IT IS ! inside the box we have a divider for the cigarettes ,
an original issue 1914 star box, with the recipients details typed on the label ,
in the left section, and in the right hand section , we have the 1914 star,
known as the "MONS STAR" and a Hawke Battalion metal cap badge
Which as you can see on the Right has Bens , Name Rank & Serial Number ,
with his Divisions Name as well.
Now as you can see by the brothers service documents , they were all in the same, division (HAWKE) They all went to france and onto belgium , to the defence of , antwerp & were 3 of the 1500 that went into internment in Groningen for the duration of the Great War.
However ! the box and its contents pose several questions ,
those being Yes the box was made in "HMS TIMBERTOWN" and the medal is Bens,
& the 3 brothers were there at the time the box was constructed ! "BUT" ,
the medal/s would have been awarded after the end of the war ! ,
so what happened to his other two medals, and also what happened to his two brothers medals !! .
The other oddity is the "Hawke" Battalion cap badge ! those metal cap badges didnt come into being until , after the brothers were interned !
so how did it get there? was it sent by an oppo to say "we havent forgotten you !,
"Who knows !"
But what this page has done is to put these questions out into a bigger audience.